There are over 5 million Americans that are living with Alzheimer’s disease. A just released report from the Alzheimer’s Association, 2010 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures, finds that African-Americans and Hispanics are at the highest risk of developing the disease.
The Alzheimer’s Association found that African-Americans are nearly twice as likely as Caucasians to develop the disease while Hispanics were found to be 1.5 times more likely.

According to the study, much of the nationwide increase can be attributed to increasing blood pressure and diabetes nationwide (which increase the odds of developing Alzheimer’s in all populations).

“African-Americans and Hispanics are particularly vulnerable, because the proportion of these two risk factors is higher even still,” says Maria Carrillo, the Senior Director of Medical and Scientific Relations at the Alzheimer’s Assocation. “We can actually do something about this increased risk with better management of the conditions.”

The study also found that there will be 500,000 new cases of Alzheimer’s diagnosed this year.

One of the most striking findings of the report was that for every $25,000 the federal government spends on care for people with Alzheimer’s and Dementia, it only spends $100 on Alzheimer research.

Alzheimer’s is a type of Dementia. Below is a video that explains what exactly Alzheimer’s is: